ISIS claims responsibility for rocket attack on Iraqi power station

An Iraqi power station in the holy city of Samarra has been struck by Katyusha rockets reportedly fired by Daesh terrorists after the United States conducted airstrikes on the country’s western border region.

Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity announced on its Facebook page that the country’s Salah al-Din Power Station in the city had been targeted by rockets, causing severe damage to parts of the generating unit.

The Daesh terror group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Following the terror attack in Samarra, several Iraqi power towers along the electricity transfer line from the eastern Diyala province to east Baghdad were also damaged by explosions that resulted in shutting electric power on their path, Alghadeer reported on Monday, citing the Iraqi ministry.

According to the report, the terror operation was carried out near the Khan Bani Sa’ad area of the Baqubah district in the southwestern part of the Diyala province.

The late Sunday terror attacks on the Iraqi power grid coincided with the US military’s aerial bombardment of facilities along the Iraq-Syria border.

The US Defense Department’s Press Secretary John Kirby announced the air raids in a Sunday statement, claiming that the “precision airstrikes” had targeted two locations in Syria and another in Iraq near their common border.

Kirby added that the attacks had taken place “at President Biden’s direction,” alleging that they struck “facilities” used by “multiple” groups.

He further claimed that the targets had been selected because the alleged facilities were used by groups “that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against US personnel and facilities in Iraq.”

This is while Syria’s al-Ikhbariyah news channel reported that the air attacks had targeted the town of al-Bukamal in the eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, adding that “massive explosions” had shaken areas that lie along the common border.

Meanwhile, the media relations office of Iraq’s Electrical Ministry also confirmed reports of the rocket attack on what is referred to as the Samarra thermal electric power station.

The targeted power station had been newly inaugurated just two weeks ago by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi during a visit to the Salahuddin province, accompanied by Electricity Minister Majed Mahdi Hantoush, Salahuddin Governor Ammar al-Jabr, and the head of the Iraqi army’s joint chiefs of staff Lt. Gen. Abdulamir Rashid Yarallah.

Daesh terrorists have previously targeted the Iraqi power grid in numerous attacks in the country’s terror-ravaged provinces of Diyala, Kirkuk, and Salahuddin.

The group has so far blown up to 20 electric power towers, including those along the critical Iran-Iraq power transfer line in the northeastern part of Diyala.

Meanwhile, Iraqi and Syria experts consider the latest US military airstrikes to be an attempt by the Americans to entrench and prolong their military presence in the two countries by targeting the groups that are directly battling Daesh terrorists, Washington’s apparent excuse for the military intervention.

The American presence in both countries is illegal, however.

The Iraqi parliament passed a law early last year, mandating the cancellation of Baghdad’s permit for the US-led forces’ presence in the country.

In the case of Syria, the US military has never bothered to ask for authorization to enter the country.